


Perchance to Dream

by bookwyrmling



Series: xxxHOLiCHalloween Week 2015 [5]
Category: xxxHoLic
Genre: Gen, Halloween, What happens when someone who has never watched horror movie classics tries to use them in fic, multi-chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 22:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6725410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwyrmling/pseuds/bookwyrmling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you die in your dreams, do you die in real life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Customer

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 2 of the Tumblr xxxHOLiCHalloween Week.
> 
> Prompt: Customer

Watanuki greeted the woman with a smile as Maru and Moro led her in. She looked around the shop in awe, but appeared even more surprised at the sight of its owner. Watanuki chuckled and stood to greet her, “Welcome to the store. That man told me to expect you today. I trust you had no issues in arriving?”

“I…no,” she finally replied while taking a seat, continuing to eye the young man sitting across from her, “You are the shop owner?”

“I am,” he nodded, “As inexperienced as I may be.”

“I didn’t mean to-” the middle-aged woman gasped in shame, but Watanuki only smiled further. “I am, indeed, still young,” he admitted – though not anywhere near so young as his appearance suggested – “but there is something I can do to help you. That you could enter proves as much.”

“Doumeki-sensei recommended you to me,” the woman agreed, taking heart in the priest’s words.

Watanuki smiled and prompted the woman to continue, “You have a wish?”

“It’s not for me,” the woman nodded, “but my daughter…”

Watanuki smiled and sighed his sympathy once more before turning to the two girls by the door. “Maru, Moro, tea please?” he asked much to the girls’ delight as they ran for the kitchen. “Why don’t you tell me about this wish of yours, then, ma'am?”

The tea arrived hot and Watanuki poured for the both of them as the woman began her tale.

“My daughter has always had night terrors,” she explained, “Ever since she was young, she would get them, but, recently, they have been getting worse…or should I say it has been getting worse?”

“It?” Watanuki queried at the change in word choice.

“It’s only ever one nightmare recently,” the woman explained, “The same nightmare over and over again. A man is chasing her, trying to kill her, drawing closer each time. The setting may change, the route may change, but it is always the same man. It got to the point where she refused to sleep. I took her to the temple and Doumeki-sensei gave me a talisman. It seemed to work, but…”

Watanuki did not need to prompt the woman to continue. She seemed more than willing to do so herself as she broke down into tears, “But I don’t know what’s worse now!”

“How is she now, then?” he did ask while refreshing the woman’s tea once her tears had begun to calm. The beverage seemed both a comfort and a reminder to the woman as she picked it up and took a slow sip before releasing a sigh. “She forgets things she shouldn’t,” the customer explained as she lowered her head, “Sometimes, no matter how much I call her, she doesn’t respond. It’s like she isn’t even there.” Her voice still shook and her breaths were still choked, but, for the sake of her child, she would speak.

Watanuki closed his eyes in understanding. This mother had probably done more than she should have for the sake of her child.

“When Doumeki-sensei handed you the talisman, did he give you instructions?” he asked as his eyes opened once more, cool and calm behind round frames, “Restrictions on how regularly to use it?”

“Y-yes,” the customer admitted chagrinned – enough to tell Watanuki she had not followed them even before she jumped to defend herself, “but, it was only helping the nightmares those nights! She was still having them all the other times! She was so tired and sick; she needed more sleep.”

“The more you feed a baku, the hungrier it becomes,” Watanuki explained as if to a child, trying to keep the chiding out of his tone. Humans often took these situations into their own hands, not realizing the dangers they put themselves and others in. The customer looked ashamed, her face turned away toward the store entrance as she tugged at one of her ears. And yet, she watched him with keen suspicion out of the corner of her eyes. How had he known the talisman was that of a baku? Had Doumeki-sensei told him as much? Watanuki could read her questions with barely a glance thanks to his growing power and left eye, but she neither needed to know the answer nor could she afford it, so he simply smiled and continued to explain, “A hungry baku is likely to take more than just the offered dream.” A hungry baku could steal a person’s mind or soul if given the opportunity and half the desire to do so. Children were especially vulnerable. “Nothing can be done about the parts of her which the baku she summoned has already consumed,” Watanuki finally admitted, lowering his eyes to his tea and taking a drink as he allowed that information to settle in before he reached a different hand out to the sinking woman. “If you want to stop her condition from becoming any worse, return that talisman to the temple immediately. Do not use it again.”

“But…the nightmares,” the mother argued, “If she doesn’t get sleep soon, she’ll die!”

Watanuki hummed to himself in thought on the situation, understanding where the woman was coming from, but wanting to protect what was left of the girl’s mind, as well. He watched the woman tug once more at her ears and caught sight of a sparkle on her lobe. “Those earrings you’re wearing…” he asked.

The woman raised a hand back up to touch the studs with a confused look on her face, “My grandmother’s…”

Watanuki smiled and nodded. “A family heirloom, then?” he stated with a measure of hope. He would have to speed up his work a bit, but there was something that could be done. “Describe your house and its location to me,” he told the woman, his professional smile shifting into one meant for serious business alone, "I’ll be making a visit soon.”

“Doumeki-sensei said you couldn’t-”

“It’s true, my body cannot physically leave this shop,” Watanuki confirmed as his eyes glowed in mischief and knowledge beyond what his woman understood, “But that is not the only way to travel.”

It was while Maru and Moro were clearing the tea and the woman was preparing to leave that Watanuki spoke once more, seeing her off at the door. “Those earrings,” he warned, “let your daughter wear them to bed tonight.”

The moment the woman was gone, Watanuki walked up to the phone in the hallway and dialed a number he had long since learned by heart. The line picked up before the second ring ended.

“Come over tonight,” Watanuki spoke as he played with the cord, twisting it around a finger, “Don’t forget the thimble. I’ll send you a list for dinner and breakfast. Bring the liquor you think best fits.”


	2. Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Day 4 of the Tumblr xxxHOLiCHalloween Week.
> 
> Prompt: Shadow

The first thing Watanuki did when he opened his eyes was assess his surroundings. He was in a split living/dining room decorated in neutral colors, sprawled out along the floor in front of a kotatsu. the cold cover on top suggested it had not been used recently, but had likely been set up to prepare for the cool late autumn weather. One entryway in the room proved to lead to, as he suspected, the kitchen, while another led out to a hallway. Slowly, carefully, Watanuki walked up the stairs and slipped into the first door on the left.

This room had substantially more decor and color, but it was all shrouded in a dark haze. Watanuki coughed against the ill intent permeating the room and knew immediately that whatever was causing these nightmares was not only not natural, but already here in the room.

The shop owner walked up to the bed, where the dark haze grew stronger and saw a girl no older than fifteen shifting underneath her blankets. A quick glance at her bedside table showed no talisman, which Watanuki was glad for. It meant the girl’s mother had listened to him. He had not been sure she would.

But with one issue resolved – the hungry baku no longer given entry – the next would need to be dealt with immediately. It was no surprise the girl was having symptoms with the strength of whatever it was that resided in this room now. Watanuki coughed as his eyes met watery, yellow ones glaring out from a shadow resting on the girl’s chest.

Yes. Here it was.

It was something Watanuki had never seen before: a small ogre-like creature with a pinched, wizened face and a frown so deep, he was sure no human could ever mimic it. It was made of shadows, with no defined edges. Instead, its body whisped and diffused into the very haze that suffocated the room now. Between the dark of night and the thick haze, Watanuki could barely make out long claws like rusted nails and, when the creature realized it had his attention, it snarled and grimaced to show off rows of sharp teeth like shards of glass and bleeding gums. In the dark, in the creature’s element, Watanuki could not catch the movement on time and the claws scraped across his chest, cutting cloth and brushing heat across skin to draw blood. Watanuki jumped back in time to prevent any worse than the minor scratch and threw up a shield to protect himself from any further attacks.

But, with distance, the creature’s threatening presence seemed to lessen, his attention once more drifting towards the girl whose chest he sat upon. The moment Watanuki took a step forward, however, the creature’s eyes swiveled back to his form and it hissed, opening its mouth wide with the sound of nails on chalkboard and silver against porcelain as it screamed, “mmmMMMIIIiiiiiIIIINNNNNNnnnee!” The roar continued, stabbing at Watanuki’s ears and scraping at his mind until he stepped back once more. One meter. He could stand no closer than one meter.

Distance once more acceptable, the creature turned fully to the girl and reached out with his spindly arms and knobbed elbows, long fingers and dagger claws, closing in on the girl’s throat, but the moment he touched skin, white sparks flew and threw the arms back.

Watanuki, who had been holding his breath, sighed and smiled at the earrings he could see glinting in the minimal moonlight peeking through the window. His customer truly had listened to what he had said. It was about time he do his part of the job, as well, then.

Stepping carefully, Watanuki kept as much as he could out of the creature’s reach, but breached the one meter boundary near the child’s head, doing what he could to protect himself behind a barrier before reaching a hand out to touch his fingers to her forehead. "Let’s see what sort of trouble you’ve been causing,“ he frowned to the screeching creature before closing his eyes again.


	3. Haunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Day 6 of the Tumblr xxxHOLiCHalloween Week.
> 
> Prompt: Haunt

The second time Watanuki opened his eyes, he was outside, in a forest and the fog. The girl he appeared next to began screaming the moment she saw him and Watanuki turned and held his hands up to show he was not a threat. "Nidou-san, I’m here to help,“ he tried to calm the girl. While only the supernatural could see him when he was dream walking, walking into another person’s dream gave them the ability to interact with him. It was not a skill he used often, but Watanuki hoped it would help him resolve the situation quickly tonight. "Your mother, did she mention going to a shop today?” Watanuki asked, continuing to hold his hands up and smile in a non-threatening manner, “The person she met was me. I told her to let you wear the earrings tonight.”

A little bit of an explanation seemed to help as the girl did not look ready to bolt anymore, but Watanuki needed her willing to speak to him. "The earrings are made of suishou,“ he explained, "Suishou has the ability to purify, so you are safe tonight. The man won’t be able to hurt you.”  
“H-how are you here?” the girl asked and Watanuki’s smile grew at having her speak to him. "That is neither here nor there at the moment,“ he declined to reply, "I’m afraid I’m going to have to make this quick, however, as you are safe, but I am not. This particular dream, could you explain it to me?”  
The girl bit at her lip and looked around for a moment before nodding. "I…I always start somewhere alone,“ she explained as her eyes continued to roam the perimeter, "Sometimes it’s the street outside or school or home or this forest. And then he comes.”

“Who? What does he look like?”

Before the girl could answer, however, absolute fear morphed her face and stole her voice as she raised a finger and pointed behind Watanuki, instead. The shopkeeper immediately turned, studying the figure before him. It was not a match to the one outside, all shadows and wisps. Instead, he held a full frame, burnt skin and a metallic claw on his hand. The yellow, watery eyes were the same, however.  
“Don’t worry,” Watanuki reminded the girl as he heard her whimper and her feet shift to run, “As I said, so long as you are wearing those earrings, he cannot touch you.”

“I thought it was just a movie!” she screamed, closing her eyes and covering her ears and that was when Watanuki realized he recognized the disfigured nightmare. Himawari-chan had always liked horror movies and Freddy Krueger was one she had talked about before: a serial killer who killed people in their dreams.

“Certainly an apropos mask,” Watanuki claimed as he studied the creature more closely, “That is your goal, after all, is it not? But why her?” Watanuki assumed, in the long run, it really did not matter. This creature needed to be done away with either way. But there was a part of him that wanted to know what it was he was facing and why it had chosen this girl to haunt and torment. It meant he would understand better if he came across something similar in the future. It meant there might be a clue as to how to best deal with the situation now.

Through the fog, then, Watanuki caught sight of a quiver and a flash of red. Snaking his hand out, it closed on a piece of red yarn stretched between the masquerading creature and the girl’s chest, or, more specifically, the necklace she wore.

“Nidou-san,” Watanuki speculated, ignoring the creature that, in turn, ignored him, “That necklace you’re wearing…is new, is it not?”

The girl raised her hand to touch the pendant, taking a few steps back when the creature took a few in her direction, his eyes trained on her, on the necklace. Watanuki followed along, coming even closer, his hands following along the red thread.

“I found it,” Nidou finally admitted, “It was pretty…but the clasp caught when I put it on and I haven’t been able to take it off since.”

When Watanuki passed that one meter mark again, he did not look back to see it, but he heard it again, that screech of possession that raised gooseflesh and near made his ears bleed and the string suddenly began to reel in and tighten, loosening the wrapping on the pendant itself and trailing along the chain to twist into a defensive knot around the clasp. Watanuki kept himself between the girl and the creature, blocking her vision to help her feel safer, but Watanuki knew time was short. He could feel the creature drawing closer, but with the string’s connection to the necklace, running would do nothing but waste time.

With the string no longer blocking his view of the pendant, Watanuki could see through to what it was of: a sagiso blossom preserved in resin. Reaching out, Watanuki picked up the pendant and, before the string could react, he tore it, breaking the chain. The creature screamed, Nidou cried out and reached her hands up to protect her neck, and Watanuki watched the red string abandon the child and wrap around his own fisted hand, tying it shut so he could no longer open it.

Watanuki felt the yellowed eyes zero in on his back. “Nidou-san, when you wake up, tell your mother her wish has been granted. Doumeki-sensei will be by tomorrow to bless the house and collect the baku talisman. Your dreams are your own once again.”

Before he could say anything else, though, shadowed, wispy hands and bleeding claws wrapped around his neck and tightened to the point Watanuki could no longer breathe. A whisper of possession sounded next to the shopkeeper’s ear and Watanuki coughed and choked at the putrefaction that came out of the being’s mouth.

Without the girl’s fear of a recently viewed film to mask itself as, the creature had reverted to its true form. With proof that the spirit was no longer interested in the girl, Watanuki knew it was time to go, before he was killed. “You may enter,” he rasped, reaching a hand up to wrap tight around the creature’s arms as his eyes fell shut.

“Watanuki!”

Watanuki’s eyes slammed open in his bed, a weight on his chest and hands wrapped tight around his throat. Watery yellow eyes glared down at him, but no matter how hard Watanuki fought, he could not breathe and he could not throw off the weight. He could not open his hand and drop the pendant. But, with his eyes open, he caught a flash of light and heard a screech of pain as the hands around his neck blew away like smoke before the rest of the creature’s body and weight were purified.

“Watanuki!”

Watanuki coughed and rolled over, forcing his hand open and dropping the pendant as he tried to regain his breath. The item clattered to the ground, the last of the red sting turning to black smoke and blowing away.

“I’m…fine…” Watanuki gasped through the pain in his throat and his burning lungs. The creature had been purified. He would recover.

Doumeki stood, bow still at hand for several moments before dropping his arm and letting the weapon disappear back into the ring. “I want tsukudani for lunch.”

**Omake**

Watanuki dropped the pendant into a box and set it back up on a shelf in the storeroom. Bandages wrapped around his neck to hide the bruises wrapping around it and a clean outfit hid another set around his chest. The yukata he had been wearing had been torn and bloodstained in real life as much as it had in the dream upon the creature’s initial attack.

“What was it?” Doumeki asked from right outside the door as Watanuki closed it. “A mara, I believe,” the shopkeeper whispered and winced as he cleared his throat, “A nightmare. It had attached itself to the pendant.”

“Sagiso means that ones thoughts will follow another into its dreams,” Doumeki offered in explanation and Watanuki nodded. “Wearing that pendant acted as an invitation to the Nightmare and created the perfect victim to torment to death.”

“I should have passed the issue onto you sooner,” the folklorist and priest suggested and Watanuki shook his head. The lengths they would have had to go to were acceptable thanks to the direness of the situation, but he doubted the same would have been said when the mother had first come to Doumeki for help.

“It’s been resolved?”

“Purify the house tomorrow after you have removed the baku talisman from the premises,” Watanuki informed him, “burn the talisman back at the temple. It’s been tainted.”

Doumeki nodded his understanding as Watanuki returned to his room and bed. Despite knowing the Nightmare had been exorcised, he remained nearby and awake, ready to defend if needed once more.


End file.
